Texas kids need less testing, more teaching

Copyright 2013: Houston Chronicle

Updated 6:35 pm, Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Texas Legislature faces some really tough education problems this session. But one issue is a no-brainer: Our system of high-stakes standardized tests for school kids has gone wildly out of control, and it's time to whack it back.

How bad is the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness?

- So bad that in high schools, STAAR testing can claim up to an astounding 45 days of the 180-day school year - and that's not counting the enormous amount of time that teachers spend prepping their classes for the tests.

- So bad that more than two-thirds of the state's 1,200 school boards have signed a petition stating that "overreliance on high-stakes testing" is "strangling our public schools."

- So bad that the previous state education commissioner referred to it as "the heart of the vampire" and "a military-industrial complex." (In an era of super-tight education budgets, Texas' five-year contract with testing giant Pearson, which develops and analyzes the STAAR, is worth an astounding $5 billion.)

We're pleased that the Texas Legislature is moving quickly to rein in the STAAR. The state Senate has passed its first bill of the session: one that would drop the requirement tying students' grades to their test scores. And a bipartisan bill to cut the number of tests and give students more leeway to choose coursework is zipping through the House.

In the mid-'80s, Texas led the nation in using high-stakes tests to hold teachers, schools and districts accountable for students' progress. And up to a point, that worked.

But with the STAAR, Texas went off the deep end: Testing displaced teaching. Now it's time for us once again to lead the nation - this time, in the opposite direction.